Brighton Bears continued their recent improvement at the Derby Thunderdome with a second successive away victory.
Bears were good value for their second win in the last three games and were never behind.
Brighton, who were just edged out 74-72 by Manchester last week having previously gained their first win of the season at Edinburgh, shot well throughout to condemn Derby to their fourth defeat in five matches.
Mark Dunning's young team shot 53 per cent of their two pointers and three pointers and were solid from the free throw line, returning 79%.
New signing Demetric Reese, who has been snapped up following the departure of Micah Bourdeau, made his presence felt on his debut by hitting 17 points in 18 minutes on court.
The 24 year-old guard, who was the standout player in the University of Maryland side that featured Kevin Wallace, fired four of his six three-point attempts.
In an encouraging all round team display, Wallace hit 20 points while Wilbur Johnson recorded a double double in terms of points scoring and rebounding and Dave Wahl had seven rebounds and five steals to go with his ten points.
Bears, who still turned the ball over 23 times to Derby's 20, leapt into a 15-8 lead and were 26-14 ahead after the first quarter.
Brighton were 26-20 up four minutes into the second period and a 6-1 run by them made it 32-21 before they crossed over 36-28 in front.
Derby trimmed the lead to four points at 46-42 with three and a half minutes of the third quarter remaining, but Bears led 56-46 going into the final ten minutes.
The hosts threatened a dramatic late comeback by firing eight points without reply to be only one point behind at 61-60, but then fell apart as Bears responded with a 9-2 burst to make the game safe.
Derby's new signing Antonio Garcia bravely led all scorers with 26 points and also pulled down 18 rebounds, but it was all in vain as Storm sank to their fourth consecutive championship defeat.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article